Light sensor

ABSTRACT

A control system, a mouse and a control method thereof are provided. The control system comprises a dongle and the mouse. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle and has a transmitter, a second light source for emitting a second light, an optical sensor and a processor. The optical sensor senses the first light at a first time interval to generate a first sensing signal and then also, senses the second light at a second time interval to generate a second sensing signal. The processor generates a first control signal and a second control signal according to the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, respectively, and transmits them to the dongle via the transmitter so that the host receives the first and second control signals via the dongle.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/960,369, filed on Aug. 6, 2013, the entirecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference and priority towhich is hereby claimed. Application Ser. No. 13/960,369 claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) and 35 U.S.C. § 365(b) to Taiwanese ApplicationNo. 102103036, filed on Jan. 28, 2013, the disclosure of which is alsoincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a control system, a mouse and a controlmethod thereof. More particularly, the mouse of the control system ofthe present invention can be used for different applications by sensingdifferent lights, which are generated by different light sources atdifferent time intervals.

Descriptions of the Related Art

With the widespread use of personal computers (PCs), various peripheraloperating devices such as wireless optical mice and wireless touch padshave been available in the market to allow users to operate operatingsystems conveniently and in diversified ways.

Existing wireless optical mice are used with dongles. The dongle isplugged into a host to receive a control signal from the wirelessoptical mouse. The wireless optical mouse has a light source forilluminating an operating plane and a light sensor for sensing thelight. Accordingly, according to a sensing signal generated by the lightsensor, the wireless optical mouse can generate and transmit a controlsignal to the dongle to operate the operating system running on the hostaccording to the control signal.

However, the wireless optical mice currently available in the marketonly have a single application, i.e., can only sense a single lightsource to generate and transmit a control signal to the dongle. In viewof this, an urgent need exists in the art to enable the wireless opticalmice to have more applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a control system, amouse and a control method thereof. The control system of the presentinvention comprises a dongle and a mouse. Both the dongle and the mousehave a light source. The mouse can sense lights, which are generated bydifferent light sources at different time intervals to generatecorresponding control signals, and control a host to execute differentoperations according to the control signals. Thus, the wireless opticalmouse of the present invention will have more applications.

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention discloses acontrol system, which has a dongle and a mouse. The dongle is wiredlyconnected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a firstlight. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle, and comprises atransmitter, a second light source, a light sensor and a processor. Thesecond light source is configured to emit a second light. The lightsensor is configured to, according to a schedule defining a first timeinterval and a second time interval, sense the first light through afirst light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the firsttime interval and sense the second light through a second light guidepath to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval.The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the lightsensor, and is configured to generate a first control signal accordingto the first sensing signal, generate a second control signal accordingto the second sensing signal and transmit the first control signal andthe second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter so that thehost receives the first control signal and the second control signal viathe dongle.

Furthermore, to achieve the aforesaid objective, the present inventionfurther discloses a mouse, which is used with a dongle. The dongle iswiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting afirst light. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle, andcomprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor and aprocessor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light.The light sensor is configured to, according to a schedule defining afirst time interval and a second time interval, sense the first lightthrough a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal atthe first time interval, and sense the second light through a secondlight guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second timeinterval. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter andthe light sensor, and is configured to generate a first control signalaccording to the first sensing signal, generate a second control signalaccording to the second sensing signal and transmit the first controlsignal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitterso that the host receives the first control signal and the secondcontrol signal via the dongle.

Furthermore, to achieve the aforesaid objective, the present inventionfurther discloses a control method for a mouse. The mouse is used with adongle and is wirelessly connected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredlyconnected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a firstlight. The mouse comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a lightsensor, and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit asecond light. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitterand the light sensor. The control method is executed by the processor,and comprises the following steps: enabling the light sensor to,according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second timeinterval, sense the first light through a first light guide path togenerate a first sensing signal at the first time interval, and sensethe second light through a second light guide path to generate a secondsensing signal at the second time interval; generating a first controlsignal according to the first sensing signal; generating a secondcontrol signal according to the second sensing signal; and transmittingthe first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle viathe transmitter so that the host receives the first control signal andthe second control signal via the dongle.

The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for thesubject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanyingthe appended drawings for people skilled in this field to wellappreciate the features of the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a control system 1 according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a schedule according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a control system 3 according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a schedule according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a control system 5 according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram of a control method according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram of a control method according to the fifthembodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a control system, a mouse and a controlmethod thereof. It shall be appreciated that the following embodimentsare provided to illustrate the technical contents of the presentinvention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the presentinvention. Furthermore, in the following embodiments and the attacheddrawings, elements unrelated to the present invention are omitted fromdepiction; and the dimensional relationships among individual elementsin the attached drawings are illustrated only for ease of understandingbut not to limit the actual scale.

The first embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 1,which is a schematic view of a control system 1. The control system 1comprises a dongle 11 and a mouse 13. The dongle 11 may be wiredlyconnected to a host 31 via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. Thedongle 11 has a first light source 11 a for emitting a first light.

The mouse 13 and the dongle 11 are wirelessly connected to each otherbased on the 2.4 G wireless technology, although the present inventionis not limited thereto. The mouse 13 has a second light source 13 a, alight sensor 13 b, a processor 13 c and a transmitter 13 d. The secondlight source 13 a is configured to emit a second light. The processor 13c is electrically connected to the light sensor 13 b and the transmitter13 d. The light sensor 13 b, according to a schedule defining a firsttime interval T1 and a second time interval T2, senses the first lightthrough a first light guide path 10 to generate a first sensing signal102 at the first time interval T1 and senses the second light through asecond light guide path 12 to generate a second sensing signal 104 atthe second time interval T2.

Specifically, the mouse 13 further has a first light transmission regionP1, a second light transmission region P2, a lens L1 and a lens L2. Thefirst light guide path 10 allows the first light to be transmitted tothe light sensor 13 b via the first light transmission region P1, thelens L2 and the lens L1, and the second light guide path allows thesecond light to be transmitted to the light sensor 13 b via the secondlight transmission region P2 and the lens L1. The processor 13 c isdesigned in advance to have the schedule of the first time interval T1and the second time interval T2, as shown in FIG. 2. According to theschedule, the mouse 13 can be used for different applications (i.e., anapplication A1 and an application A2) at the first time interval T1 andthe second time interval T2 respectively.

In detail, the processor 13 c can generate a first control signal 106related to the application A1 according to the first sensing signal 102,and generate a second control signal 108 related to the application A2according to the second sensing signal 104. Then, the processor 13 ctransmits the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108to the dongle 11 via the transmitter 13 d so that the host 31 receivesthe first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108 via thedongle 11 to execute corresponding operations respectively.

It shall be appreciated that the first light source 11 a and the secondlight source 13 a can respectively generate the first light and thesecond light with different wavelengths or phase differences so that thelight sensor 13 b can sense and distinguish between the first light andthe second light according to the wavelengths or the phase differences.According to the first sensing signal 102 and the second sensing signal104 generated by sensing the first light and the second lightrespectively, the processor 13 c can generate different control signals(i.e., the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108)so that the host 31 receives the first control signal 106 and the secondcontrol signal 108 to execute different operations.

For example, for the application A1, the processor 13 c can calculaterange information between the dongle 11 and the mouse 13 according tothe first sensing signal 102 generated at the first time interval T1 andgenerate the first control signal 106 according to the range informationso that the host 31 adjusts a window size of a program running on thehost 31 according to the first control signal 106.

Furthermore, for the application A1, the processor 13 c of the mouse canfurther adjust a radio frequency (RF) power of the transmitter 13 d(i.e., the RF power at which the first control signal 106 and the secondcontrol signal 108 are transmitted) according to the range information.Thus, as the dongle 11 and the mouse 13 approach each other, the mouse13 can reduce the RF power of the transmitter 13 d to reduce the overallpower consumption.

On the other hand, for the application A2, the second light generated bythe second light source 13 a is used for the general purpose ofconventional optical mice; that is, the second light is irradiated ontoan operating plane, where the user uses the mouse, through the secondlight transmission region P2 to obtain a reflected light, which is thenreceived by the light sensor 13 b through the second light transmissionregion P2 and the lens L1. Thus, the processor 13 c can calculate thedisplacement information according to the second sensing signal 104generated by the light sensor 13 b at the second time interval T2 togenerate the second control signal 108 so that the host 31 adjusts adisplay position of a cursor according to the second control signal 108.

It shall be appreciated that apart from having the first light source 11a and the second light source 13 a generate both the first light and thesecond light with different wavelengths or phase differencesrespectively, the mouse 13 of the present invention can also distinguishbetween the first light and the second light by appropriately adjustingthe light guide paths to allow the first light and the second light tobe received by different regions of the light sensor 13 b respectively,and correspondingly generate the first sensing signal 102 and the secondsensing signal 104 respectively.

The second embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 3,which is a schematic view of a control system 3. The second embodimentis different from the control system 1 of the first embodiment in thatthe mouse 13 in the second embodiment further has a third lighttransmission region P3 and a mirror M1, while the processor 13 c isdesigned in advance to have the schedule of a first time interval T1, asecond time interval T2 and a third time interval T3, as shown in FIG.4. According to the schedule, the mouse 13 can further be used for adifferent application (i.e., an application A3) at the third timeinterval T3.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the schedule further defines the thirdtime interval T3, so the light sensor 13 b further senses an environmentluminous intensity (i.e., an intensity of a natural light and/or a lightgenerated by a lamp) through a third light guide path 14 to generate athird sensing signal 110 at the third time interval T3. The third lightguide path 14 allows the third light to be transmitted to the lightsensor 13 b via the third light transmission region P3, the mirror M1and the lens L1. Thus, according to the schedule, the processor 13 c canfurther generate a third control signal 112 related to the applicationA3 according to the third sensing signal 110.

According to the first sensing signal 102, the second sensing signal 104and the third sensing signal 110 generated by sensing the first light,the second light and the third light respectively, the processor 13 ccan generate different control signals (i.e., the first control signal106, the second control signal 108 and the third control signal 112) sothat the host 31 receives the first control signal 106, the secondcontrol signal 108 and the third control signal 112 to execute differentoperations.

For example, for the application A3, the processor 13 c can calculateilluminance information according to the third sensing signal 110 togenerate the third control signal 112 and transmit the third controlsignal 112 to the host 31 via the transmitter 13 d so that the hostadjusts a backlight brightness of a monitor (not shown) connected to thehost according to the third control signal 112.

However, for the application A3 in another example where the monitor perse has a wireless receiver (e.g. a dongle plugged in), the processor 13c may also transmit the third control signal 112 to the monitor via thetransmitter 13 d directly so that the monitor adjusts a backlightbrightness thereof according to the third control signal 112 directlywithout the need of the host 31.

The third embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 5,which is a schematic view of a control system 5. The third embodiment isdifferent from the control system 3 of the second embodiment in that theapplication A3 in the third embodiment is designed to control abrightness of a lamp 51. Therefore, the lamp 51 has a wireless receiverfor receiving the third control signal 112.

Specifically, according to the third sensing signal 110 generated by thelight sensor 13 b sensing the environment luminous intensity, theprocessor 13 c can calculate illuminance information according to thethird sensing signal 110 to generate the third control signal 112, andtransmit the third control signal 112 to the lamp 51 via the transmitter13 d. After receiving the third control signal 112, the lamp 51 adjustsa light source brightness of a light source thereof according to thethird control signal 112.

The fourth embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 6,which is a flowchart diagram of a control method. The control method ofthe fourth embodiment can be used in a mouse (e.g., the mouse 13 of thefirst embodiment). The mouse is used with a dongle and is wirelesslyconnected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host andhas a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse comprisesa transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor, and a processor.The second light source is configured to emit a second light. Theprocessor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the lightsensor. The control method is executed by the processor.

First, step S601 is executed to enable the light sensor to, according toa schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval,sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate afirst sensing signal at the first time interval, and sense the secondlight through a second light guide path to generate a second sensingsignal at the second time interval. Then, step S603 is executed togenerate a first control signal according to the first sensing signal.Step S605 is executed to generate a second control signal according tothe second sensing signal.

Subsequently, step S607 is executed to transmit the first control signaland the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter. Thus,the host wiredly connected to the dongle can receive the first controlsignal and the second control signal via the dongle to executecorresponding operations (e.g., calculate range information between themouse and the dongle according to the first sensing signal to generatethe first control signal so that the host adjusts a window size of aprogram running on the host according to the first control signal; andcalculate displacement information according to the second sensingsignal to generate the second control signal so that the host calculatesa display position of a cursor according to the second control signal).

Furthermore, the mouse per se can also adjust an RF power of thetransmitter according to the range information to reduce the powerconsumption. In addition to the aforesaid steps, the control method ofthe fourth embodiment can also execute all the operations set forth inthe first embodiment and accomplish all the corresponding functions. Themethod in which the control method of the fourth embodiment executesthese operations and accomplishes these functions can be readilyappreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art based on theexplanation of the first embodiment, and thus, will not be furtherdescribed herein.

The fifth embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 7,which is a flowchart diagram of a control method. The control method ofthe fifth embodiment can be used in a mouse (e.g., the mouse 13 of thesecond embodiment and the third embodiment). The mouse is used with adongle and is wirelessly connected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredlyconnected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a firstlight. The mouse comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a lightsensor, and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit asecond light. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitterand the light sensor. The control method is executed by the processor.

First, step S701 is executed to enable the light sensor to, according toa schedule defining a first time interval, a second time interval and athird time interval, sense the first light through a first light guidepath to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval,sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate asecond sensing signal at the second time interval, and sense anenvironment luminous intensity through a third light guide path togenerate a third sensing signal at the third time interval. Then, stepS703 is executed to generate a first control signal according to thefirst sensing signal. Step S705 is executed to generate a second controlsignal according to the second sensing signal. Step S707 is executed tocalculate illuminance information according to the third sensing signalto generate a third control signal.

Subsequently, step S709 is executed to transmit the first controlsignal, the second control signal and the third control signal to thedongle via the transmitter. Thus, the host wiredly connected to thedongle can receive the first control signal, the second control signaland the third control signal via the dongle to execute correspondingoperations (e.g., the host adjusts a backlight brightness of a monitorconnected to the host according to the third control signal).

Furthermore, the step S709 may also be replaced by the following step:transmitting the first control signal and the second control signal tothe dongle via the transmitter and transmitting the third control signalto a monitor so that the monitor adjusts the backlight brightnessthereof according to the third control signal. Further, step S709 mayfurther be replaced by the following step: transmitting the thirdcontrol signal to a lamp via the transmitter so that the lamp adjusts alight source brightness of a light source thereof according to the thirdcontrol signal.

In addition to the aforesaid steps, the control method of the fifthembodiment can also execute all the operations set forth in the secondembodiment and the third embodiment and accomplish all the correspondingfunctions. The method in which the fifth embodiment executes theseoperations and accomplishes these functions can be readily appreciatedby those of ordinary skill in the art based on the explanation of thesecond embodiment and the third embodiment, and thus, will not befurther described herein.

According to the above descriptions, through the design of the opticalstructure and the schedule, the control system of the present inventionsenses different lights, which are generated by different light sourcesat different time intervals to execute different applications.Accordingly, as compared to the conventional optical mouse, the wirelessoptical mouse of the present invention has more applications.

The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents andinventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceedwith a variety of modifications and replacements based on thedisclosures and suggestions of the invention as described withoutdeparting from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although suchmodifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the abovedescriptions, they have substantially been covered in the followingclaims as appended.

What is claimed is:
 1. A light sensor for a control system, beingconfigured to, according to a schedule defining a first time intervaland a second time interval, sense a first light through a first lightguide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time intervaland sense a second light through a second light guide path to generate asecond sensing signal at the second time interval, wherein the firsttime interval and the second time interval are not overlapped to eachother.
 2. The light sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lightsensor is included in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter,the first sensing signal is used for the processor to generate a firstcontrol signal, the second sensing signal is used for the processor togenerate a second control signal, whereby the processor transmits thefirst control signal and the second control signal to a dongle wiredlyconnected a host via the transmitter and the host receives the firstcontrol signal and the second control signal via the dongle.
 3. Thelight sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first light is emittedby a first light source of the dongle and the second light is emitted bya second light source of the mouse.
 4. The light sensor as claimed inclaim 3, wherein the first sensing signal is used for the processor tocalculate range information between the mouse and the dongle so as toadjust an RF power of the transmitter according to the rangeinformation.
 5. The light sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein thefirst sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate rangeinformation between the mouse and the dongle so as to generate the firstcontrol signal according to the range information, whereby the hostadjusts a window size of a program running on the host according to thefirst control signal.
 6. The light sensor as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe first sensing signal is used for the processor to calculatedisplacement information according to the second sensing signal so as togenerate the second control signal according to displacementinformation, whereby the host calculates a display position of a cursoraccording to the second control signal.
 7. The light sensor as claimedin claim 1, wherein the schedule further defines a third time interval,the light sensor further senses an environment luminous intensitythrough a third light guide path to generate a third sensing signal atthe third time interval, and the first time interval, the second timeinterval and the third time interval are not overlapped to each other.8. The light sensor as claimed in claim 7, wherein the light sensor isincluded in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter, and thethird sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate illuminanceinformation so as to generate a third control signal and transmit thethird control signal to a host via the transmitter so that the hostadjusts a backlight brightness of a monitor connected to the hostaccording to the third control signal.
 9. The light sensor as claimed inclaim 7, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising aprocessor and a transmitter, and the third sensing signal is used forthe processor to calculate illuminance information so as to generate athird control signal and transmit the third control signal to a monitorvia the transmitter so that the monitor adjusts a backlight brightnessaccording to the third control signal.
 10. The light sensor as claimedin claim 7, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising aprocessor and a transmitter, and the third sensing signal is used forthe processor to calculate illuminance information so as to generate athird control signal and transmit the third control signal to a lamp viathe transmitter so that the lamp adjusts a light source brightnessaccording to the third control signal.